Field of the Invention
Embodiments of this invention relate to improved beds for human sleeping.
Description of Prior Art
It is very well-established that good quality, restful sleep is essential to good overall health and well-being. And so, it is not surprising that very many technologies to improve the comfort and utility of beds have been introduced for many years. Spring mattresses and box springs, air mattresses, foam mattresses, viscoelastic foam mattresses, water beds, and beds utilizing combinations of techniques are all commonly available. However, in spite of the very wide variety of beds available, serious shortcomings exist for all types. Spring mattresses sag and become contaminated and/or infested with bugs over time. Water beds are heavy, cause problems if water leaks, and are not comfortable for many persons. Air mattresses lack ventilation and suffer from poor comfort. Foam mattresses are heavy, often lack ventilation, and also become dirty over time. Lack of a good system for cleaning beds is also a serious issue, as most mattresses and box springs cannot be easily cleaned or laundered.
Another issue with most available beds is that while they may be well-tailored to persons of specific height, weight, and body shapes, persons of different body size and shape may find them uncomfortable. This limitation results in many persons not sleeping well, as a given bed with existing technology, may not fit them well. And lack of a way to adapt a bed to a given person means that stores that sell bedding must stock a wide variety of beds and/or mattresses so that persons may try many of them in hopes of selecting a bed that fits them well. This lack of a bed design that is comfortable for all persons also makes it difficult to sell beds and bedding over the internet as each person needs to try each bed to ensure they select one that is good for them.
Use of more advanced technology to improve bedding and sleep have been proposed. Application Publication 2007/0239370 by Block (hereinafter “Block”) proposes a bed with adjustable firmness/stiffness that utilizes a gantry to access and control an array of cylinders and to read sensors on those cylinders via an electrical connector. And Application Publication 2012/0137444 by Wong (hereinafter “Wong”) proposed a bed surface with adjustable shape through manual control by a bed user or bed occupant. Regrettably, Block has serious shortcomings in lack of a way to sense if a user is sleeping on their back, side, front, or other position; and also requires a large number of cylinders to provide a smooth surface (leading to high costs, weight, inconvenience, etc.). Block also requires a very large number of sensors that must be individually mounted to each cylinder and be accessed through electrical connections. Alternatively, Block proposes measuring air pressure in his cylinders through action of his gantry, but this appears to be a slow process and it would be problematic to operate such a large pneumatic system without air leaks (that would cause objectionable noise). Finally, Block only provides a bed surface with adjustable firmness/stiffness and does not teach a system of creating a shaped or contoured sleeping surface. Hence, Block cannot provide benefits of elevating legs, shoulders, or other body parts, of providing a slanted, tilted, or twisted sleeping surface, or of cradling a bed occupant's body. And as Wong does not teach controls that are automatically responsive to a bed occupant, bed occupants who change their position in the course of sleep are not well-accommodated as they must wake up, re-adjust their bed's shape, and then try to re-gain sleep each time they change their sleeping position.
Some technologies exist for monitoring the weight distribution and weight load of a bed occupant applied to a conventional bed. These techniques involve placing a sensing pad or membrane above or below a conventional mattress and monitoring pressure using an array of sensors. And while pressure profiles of a bed occupant on a sleeping surface may be generated this way, there are considerable limitations due to close proximity to a bed occupant. In particular, the need to provide electrical safety in the face of possible release of bodily fluids, or other fluids, and the need to provide ventilation for comfort of the bed occupant make design of these sensing pads challenging and expensive. Additionally, it is difficult to provide consistent force or pressure measurements through a pad placed on top of, or between, mattresses and box springs that are compliant by design.
Patent application Ser. No. 14/730,666 filed by Matthew W. Krenik on Jun. 4, 2015 and entitled “Automated Bed and Method of Operation Thereof”, hereinafter Krenik '666, teaches valuable techniques including the implementation of beds utilizing sensors and analysis techniques to sense whether a bed occupant is sleeping on their back, front, side, or other position and actuators to control a bed surface specific to the needs of a bed occupant. Krenik '666 also teaches use of bed slats adjusted by gantries to reduce costs and complexity, determining sleeping position using sensors coupled to slats, sending signals from a bed occupant to a bed through applying momentary pressure to a bed surface, and additional beneficial techniques.
It is very clear from the broad attention paid to beds and bedding (numbers of stores that advertise and sell bedding, wide range of bedding products available, etc.) that new techniques for beds and bedding are highly desired. This patent extends the teaching of Krenik '666 and offers multiple new and important techniques to make electronically controlled beds safer, cheaper and easier to build, and perform better for bed occupants.